BY VAN HIPP — The media made much of who came and who didn’t come to last week’s GOP convention in Cleveland. Pundits also made much over presidential contenders who signed “the pledge,” but refused to endorse Donald Trump. There was, however, one former Republican Presidential nominee and GOP elder statesman who was there and said “Trump’s going to make a great president.” His name is Bob Dole and he continues to teach us all what character, duty, and being an American is all about.

We all have ups and downs in life. How a man handles both victory and defeat tells you a lot about a man and his character. Bob Dole originally supported Jeb Bush for the presidency, whose father had once been a bitter rival. Bob Dole put that past him and supported the younger Bush. Dole was then “really disappointed” in Jeb Bush for skipping the convention and not honoring his pledge.

Bob Dole has had some great victories in life, as well as some terrible disappointments. The former U.S. Senate majority leader and both GOP presidential and vice-presidential nominee, has always been magnanimous in victory and gracious in defeat. He is a class act who continues to teach us all.

Bob Dole, who celebrated his 93rd birthday right after the conclusion of the convention, is a patriot and veteran who’s always answered his country’s “call to duty.”

The media is saying that Donald Trump has transformed the Republican Party into the party of the working middle class. There was a time, a different era, in the Republican Party however, when a GOP leader who grew up in the basement of a three room house during the “Great Depression” in Russell, Kansas, fought for working-class families.

Today, Donald Trump says he will always stand by and support our veterans who have been failed by a dysfunctional Department of Veteran Affairs. But there was a time when a Republican leader who had been wounded in World War II, gone through seven operations, years of rehab, and had a paralyzed right arm from his battlefield injuries, fought for our veterans like no one else.
A theme in Cleveland, and throughout the Trump campaign, has been to rebuild a decimated military to keep America safe. Well, there was once a Republican leader and 10th U.S. Army Mountain Division veteran and recipient of two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts, who always fought to keep an American military so strong that no one would dare challenge us.

Donald Trump has stood up to the elites and pledged to be the voice of the “forgotten Americans.” Throughout his career, Bob Dole, the Republican leader from a small town where his dad ran a stand that sold eggs and cream and his mom sold Singer sewing machines, always stood up to the elites and fought for the “Silent Majority.”

Trump’s main theme has been to “Make America Great Again.” Bob Dole is part of “The Greatest Generation” that always answered America’s “call to duty” and showed the entire world exactly how great America was.

It was great to see Melania Trump salute Bob Dole in her convention speech. Yes, Donald Trump has transformed the GOP into the party that fights for working class Americans, takes care of our veterans, and will keep America safe above all else. But you know what? These are the kinds of values, the kind of Republican Party, and most importantly, the kind of America that Bob Dole fought for both on the battlefield and in the political world. Just maybe, Donald Trump has brought the Republican Party back home to Bob Dole values that will be the voice of the “forgotten Americans.”
Since 1950, the nickname “Mr. Republican” has been reserved for legendary late Ohio senator, Bob Taft. Today I submit that Bob Dole is the new “Mr. Republican” and he continues to teach us what duty, character, honor and answering America’s “call to duty” to keep us free and secure is all about.

Van Hipp is chairman of American Defense International, Inc. (ADI), a Washington, D.C. consulting firm. He is former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, and served on the Presidential Electoral College in 1988. He is the author of “The New Terrorism: How to Fight It and Defeat It.” To read more of his reports, Go Here Now.